[prisoner-rights] Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee publishes report on Sweden

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Strasbourg, 18.11.2004 - The Council of Europe's Committee for the
prevention of torture (CPT) has published today the report on its third
periodic visit to Sweden in January/February 2003, together with the
response of the Swedish Government. These documents have been made public
with the agreement of the Swedish authorities.

During the visit, the CPT's delegation received no allegations of
ill-treatment by the police from the detained persons it interviewed.
However, the report raises questions as regards the effectiveness of the
investigation into complaints lodged against the police and involving
allegations of assault by police officers. In their response, the Swedish
authorities refer to a number of proposals designed to strengthen the
existing complaints mechanism.

Despite legislative changes in recent years, the CPT's report finds that
the imposition of restrictions on remand prisoners' contact with the
outside world and other prisoners continues to raise a number of issues in
practice. The Swedish authorities' response indicates that prosecutors in
Gothenburg have been made aware of the Committee's concerns and instructed
to comply with the relevant provisions when imposing such restrictions.

The report also draws attention to allegations received at the Bärby Home
for Young Persons concerning the excessive use of force to control violent
or recalcitrant residents. In their response, the authorities highlight
that additional guidelines on the use of physical force have been drawn up
and distributed to all institutions for young persons.

The CPT visit reports and the response of the Swedish authorities are
available on the Committee's website: http://www.cpt.coe.int